In Part 1, I presented several reasons why in Deuteronomy 18:18, the verse is referring to Muhammad, not Jesus like any of my Christian brethrens believe. In this posting, I will discuss the rest of the verse.

A prophet among their brethren

The verse started with “I will raise them a Prophet among their brethren…” Now we might want to ask, who are “their brethren”? Since this verse was spoken to Moses so that he will convey it to his people (the Israelites), then “brethren” here means the brethren of the Israelites.

This verse addressed the Israelites as one entity, so who are the brethren of the Jews/Israelites? The Arabs are the brethren of the Jews. You see, both Jews and Arabs came from the same father; Abraham. Abraham had two wives; Sarah and Hajar. Hajar bore Abraham’s first son; Ishmael and Sarah bore Isaac, Abraham’s second son. Isaac was very much a junior to Ishmael.

The Jews came from the lineage of Isaac and the Arabs came from Ishmael’s lineage. Hence they are brethren to each other. The verse said that the Prophet will come from among their brethren, not from among themselves. Muhammad was indeed among their brethren!

Words in the mouth

The verse proceeds: “…and I will put my words into his mouth…”

This part of the verse implies that the prophet who will be raised among the Jewish brethren will not speak out of his own word but will speak from the words of God.

Allah swt is truly the Most Magnificent when He made Muhammad (pbuh) as the successor to Jesus and also preserving Deuteronomy 18:18 in the Bible though the book has a lot of discrepancies and badly corrupted (otherwise why would the Christian authority keep changing what they believe in the Bible?).

Ironically He made Muhammad, an unlettered and not learned man to be His messenger so that people will know whatever that Muhammad said did not come from him but came from God as the verse states “…and I will put my words into his mouth..”. If this is not the case, how can you explain Al Quran which had revolutionized the Arab civilization and become a holy book of more than 1.5 billion Muslims? Truly, no unlearned man can do this unless he conveyed divine revelation. Muhammad was taught by his Creator, Allah The Almighty. Muhammad ‘put the shame to the wisdom of the learned.’

History tells us that when Muhammad (pbuh) received his first divine revelation, he was forty years of age. He was in a cave some three miles north of the city of Mecca when the Archangel Gabriel came to him and commanded him in his mother tongue: “Iqra’!” which means “Read!” or “Proclaim!” or “Recite!” Muhammad was terrified and replied “I am not learned!” The angel then commanded him the second time and Muhammad replied the same. For the third time the angel continued:

“Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, who created-“ (Al Alaq: 1)

Now, Muhammad grasped that the angel was asking to repeat after him and so he repeated the words as they were put into his mouth (and the consequent ayats until the fifth).

This first account with the archangel Gabriel is also an exact fulfillment of another prophecy in the Bible:

“And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.” (Isaiah 29:12)

Wasn’t that the act of “…and I will put my words into his mouth…”? Isn’t that Isaiah 29:12 is telling about Muhammad’s encounter with Gabriel? My Christian brethrens owe the answers to themselves.

I would like to bring fellow readers to the next verse after Deuteronomy 18:18 i.e. Deuteronomy 18:19:

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”

In this verse, the prophecy of Muhammad is given again. Can you spot which part of the verse?

“…which he shall speak in my name…” This means that this prophet, who will come, will speak in God’s name, not Jesus. If you look in Al Quran from the first surah until the last surah, every surah begins with “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” In fact, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) taught the Muslims to begin every single thing in life; any work, eating, drinking etc with “Bismillahirrahmanirrahim” which means “In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.” Jesus never taught his followers to say “In the name of the Father, son and holy ghost.”

In Part 1 and Part 2, I have given more than 10 reasons that in Deuteronomy 18:18 the word ‘Prophet’ refers to Muhammad (pbuh) rather than Jesus/Isa (pbuh) as believed by the Christians. These reasons work like ‘hand in glove’ portraying that Muhammad was in fact the awaited ‘Messiah’ and the ‘Prophet’ that the Jews and the Christians have been waiting for.

Further, Deuteronomy 18:19 states that “whosoever do not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” This means that whosoever does not listen to the words of God brought by the Prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18 will be punished. Since the Bible is the book of authority of the Christians and the place where the beliefs in Christianity stand, they owe the answers to themselves and to God Almighty.

I invite the ‘People of the Book’ (the Jews and Christians) to come on common terms that is to believe that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah swt (‘swt’ means ‘subhanahu wa ta-ala’ in Arabic or in English means ‘Glorious and exalted is He’) and do not associate Him with anything. I am just doing my job as asked by Allah swt in Al Quran:

“Say:”O People of the book! Come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but Allah: that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than Allah.” If then they turn back, say: ye! “Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah’s will)”“– (‘Al-I-‘Imran: 64)

This article by no means intended to insult Christians but to reason with logic so that the truth can be understand by investigating it, rather than by blind faith.

I shall try to make this post as short as possible, but at the same time making the points that I want to make comprehensible.

Definition of the word ‘Prophecy’: A statement that says what is going to happen in the future, especially one which is based on what you believe about a particular matter rather than existing facts. (Cambridge Online Dictionary)

The definition tells all. It says that prophecies should be based on existing facts, rather than what we want to believe in. Another way to present this idea is by saying that if we are proposed with prophecies, we should analyze whatever we have in hand, rather than making assumptions on what we believed (because it might be biased I guess). In this posting I shall present to you a well known verse in the Bible:

Deuteronomy 18:18

“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”(King James Version).

This verse in the Bible narrates about what God said to Moses, on top of Mt Sinai. Most Christians were preached that the word ‘Prophet’ and the term ‘like unto thee’ here are referring to Jesus.

The first question I would like to pose to my Christian brethrens: In what way Jesus is like Moses?

Most will say that Jesus is a Jew, so does Moses. And Jesus was a prophet, so did Moses (though I might want to ask that why some are calling Jesus as the son of God and God himself incarnated in human flesh. But let’s save that for later postings).

If those are the only reasons to justify the verse, then it cannot be enough. Jonah, Jacob, Solomon, Ezekiel etc were all ‘Jews’ and ‘Prophets’. We can say that those are make belief reasons: reasons made to justify one’s belief rather than using facts. I would like to suggest here that, we compare Moses to Jesus and Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them).

Why Jesus is not like Moses

1. Moses is not God

Most Christian’s sects except the Jehovah’s Witnesses regard Jesus as God but regard Moses as a prophet. So in what sense Jesus is like Moses? Therefore, Jesus is not like Moses.

2. Moses did not die for the sins of the world

Christianity stated that Jesus died for the sins of the world, that he is the savior, God incarnated in human flesh to redeem the sins of mankind. What about Moses? He was a great prophet, but he did not have to die for the sins of the world. Hence, Jesus is not like Moses.

But these are only beliefs that one can choose to believe or not to believe. Let’s examine hard facts and then I shall leave the readers to conclude who is like Moses, Jesus or Muhammad.

1. Father and mother

Moses had a father and a mother and so do Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon them). But Jesus only had a mother and no human father. Hence, Muhammad is like Moses and Jesus is not like Moses.

2. Miraculous birth

Muslims and Christians both believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus. But Christians go a little further by saying that Jesus was begotten, not made like Adam. We Muslims on the other hand believe that Jesus’ birth was on the will of Allah. Planting a seed in a man is a human act (and also animal’s), not godly. In Al Quran, Surah Al Baqarah, ayat 47, Mary questioned how can she gave birth when no man had touched her:

She said:”O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man hath touched me?” He (angel Gabriel or Jibrail) said:”Even so: Allah createth what He willeth; when He hath decreed a plan, He but saith to it ‘Be’, and it is!

The point that I want to make here is that Jesus is not like Moses, since Moses was born in a natural way, and so does Muhammad. So it is apparent that, Muhammad is like Moses but Jesus is not like Moses.

3. Marriage

Jesus was never married, but Muhammad and Moses were married and they both had children. Again, Jesus is not like Moses, but Muhammad is like Moses.

4. Jesus was rejected by his people

Moses and Muhammad were accepted by their people and they both faced rejection in the early days of their prophethood. But Jesus’ teachings were rejected by his people and were only accepted by his few disciples. Hence, Jesus is not like Moses, but Muhammad is like Moses.

5. New laws

Moses and Muhammad brought new laws and new regulations for their people. Moses not only gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments but also a very comprehensive set of laws. Muhammad was responsible for bringing out the barbaric life of the Arab Jahiliyyah to the most respected in human civilization. Muhammad gave his people the law and order of every single aspect in life which is used until this day.

Jesus on the other hand didn’t come to establish new laws. As believed by the Christians in the Bible, Jesus himself said that he came to fulfill the old laws (Matthew 5:17-18).

6. How they departed

According to Christianity, Jesus was killed on the cross (hence we ask whether he was killed as a human or God, because God cannot die). But Muhammad and Moses died naturally like any other human. So who is more like Moses here? Jesus or Muhammad?

7. Heavenly abode

Both Moses and Muhammad were buried in earth after their death, but according to Christianity, Jesus rests in heaven. In what way this is ‘like Moses’?

Since this post is getting longer than I thought it will, I shall continue this in Part 2 of the discussion where we will analyze other parts of Deutronomy 18:18